The French 60th Infantry Division, a Series B outfit composed of older reservists and missing much of its allotted equipment eight months after mobilization, marched into Belgium in early May. Its commander was killed in action and the division took heavy losses in its initial contacts with the enemy. As the last French division still directly supporting the Belgian Army, the 60th Infantry Division was left exposed by the 28 May surrender of its allies. The tired, dispirited men took up positions along the line of the Yser Canal, marching along roads littered with the weapons and equipment abandoned by their British allies.

On 29 May, the German attacks began at dawn. The whole northern part of the line defended by the 270th Infantry Regiment collapsed under the assault, opening the road to Furnes. The 241st Infantry Regiment, although seriously threatened, held on to the Pervise-Dixmude line. At 1230, the order to withdraw to the Loo Canal held by the 2nd DLM finally arrived, but the Germans had already reached the waterway in the vicinity of Furnes.

The French withdrawal had been compromised by Germans already driving along the Route Nationale 67 between Pervise and Furnes. Few French units, overwhelmed and surrounded, managed passage toward the rear. In the 60th Infantry Division’s 50th Artillery Regiment, the gunner sabotaged some pieces, air attacks claimed others, and the Germans captured still more on the road. The division’s last units did not pull out until 1500, assisted by a handful of tanks from 2nd DLM. The dramatic withdrawal cost the 60th Infantry Division most of its remaining combat strength, but its resistance halted the German advance for a day along the Loo Canal. The division’s last 3,500 men made it to the Dunkerque beaches, protected by the one company that still had its weapons. Royal Navy liaison officers promised that they would be taken off on 3 June, but no boats arrived and the division’s remnants surrendered the next morning.